ANSELM KIEFER Fitzcarraldo, 2010 Oil, emulsion, acrylic, shellac, ash, thorn bushes, resin ferns, synthetic teeth, lead and rust on canvas in glass and steel frames 130 11/16 x 302 3/8 x 13 13/16 inches (332 x 768 x 35 cm) © Anselm Kiefer. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery

To experience Anselm Kiefer’s new exhibition at Gagosian Gallery is to enter a monochromatic forest with walls of flaking, mud-encrusted canvases that transport us into a world at times foreboding, at others, shamanic and mystical.

Anselm Kiefer speaking at 92Y photo: K.Lala, 2010

Merkaba, 2010 - © Anselm Kiefer. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery

Anselm Kiefer speaking at 92Y photo: K.Lala, 2010

Through this organic web of ‘memories,’ both historical and personal, Kiefer evokes a sense of past. Faded photographs on lead plates hint at a militaristic epoch in which Kiefer appears making the Hitlergruß, the Nazi salute in front of historically significant landmarks that deliberately confront a troubled time.

During his conversation at 92Y with curator and critic Sir Norman Rosenthal (who co-curated Sensation during his tenure at London’s Royal Academy), Kiefer said that his painted photographs incorporate several levels of histories. “The photograph is a moment. It’s interesting to combine the two because there is a tension between a moment and history.”

The artist seemed unruffled by much of the interviewer’s rhetorical line of questioning. When Rosenthal remarked that his paintings evoked graveyards, Kiefer replied that they were in fact more about the living, that the past was a story written by the living:  “Ruins, for me, are the beginning. With the debris, you can construct new ideas. They are symbols of a beginning.”

Sir Norman Rosenthal and Terence Koh keeping each other company at Gagosian Gallery. Photo K.Lala 2010

In some of the paintings in relief hang empty dresses that retain memories of the shapes of their owners, implying the absence of the physical body (arguably recalling the discarded clothes of Holocaust victims). Kiefer is drawn to the grandness of decay, the remnants of lost cultures, things left in the wake of civilization that implicate us.

Kiefer has studied the Zohar, and weaves in elements from the text on Jewish mysticism. In several glass vitrines, some 20 feet tall, the artist references Kabbalah, and the Sefiroth, symbolizing the energetic systems of the body. These monolithic shrines of glass and steel contain assemblages of decaying matter; lead, ash, organic remains, burnt texts, snakeskin, dresses and an aircraft’s fuselage – that together construct an arcane narrative.

Rosenthal, citing Kant, asked at one point, “Do you think art is a moral imperative?” Kiefer responded by saying that morals change, so art can at one moment be moral, at another, amoral. What is imperative is relative to survival.

For Kiefer, the creative process is the most important act, and many of his paintings remain unfinished. “Do you know when a painting is finished?” asked Rosenthal. “Sometimes I know… sometimes I need the money,” Kiefer quipped.

Indeed, such quick deflections might come naturally, as the artist claims to have had studied sophism in his early years. But Kiefer admitted that back then, “I knew, that I knew nothing.” “If the intellect isn’t combined with emotion,” he went on, “then it becomes abstract.”

Julian Schnabel, who attended Kiefer’s talk, later discussed Kiefer with Rosenthal, and said, that in his own view, he did not separate intellect and feelings. Asked what he thought of Kiefer’s show, Schnabel replied glibly, “I thought it was pretty good.” He felt that he and Kiefer both have the soul of a six year old.

For Kiefer the connection to his art is spiritual. “I grew up in a forest. It’s like a room. It’s protected. Like a cathedral… it is a place between heaven and earth.”

“Life is an illusion,” concluded Kiefer. “I am held together in the nothingness by art.”

Next Year in Jerusalem, Installation view Photo by Rob McKeever - © Anselm Kiefer. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery

Anselm Kiefer – Next Year in Jerusalem – November 6 – December 18, 2010, Gagosian Gallery 555 West 24th Street New York, NY 10011

Marc Newson, Transport Installation View, Gagosian Gallery, Photo by Rob McKeever

Marc Newson, the London based Australian designer famous for his seamless curves and streamlined furniture, has taken on the iconic Italian boat-maker Riva and reinterpreted the 60s style leisure speedboats into Aquariva by Marc Newson, now showing as part of the “Transport” exhibit at Gagosian Gallery in New York.

The boats which come in an edition of 22, are upholstered to taste in retro-chic turquoise and anodized aluminum, and are being sold exclusively by Gagosian at a price of 1 million euros each -  a small premium for the sleek, much-in-demand Newson style, and the acquired glamour of cruising in one on the Riviera.

Marc Newson, Transport Installation View, Gagosian Gallery, Photo by Rob McKeever

Newson has said that post-war Italian design had always been a source of inspiration – and he has designed everything from kitchen accessories to restaurants (the now-bankrupt Lever House, whose interiors unfortunately outshone its cuisine), and sci-fi furniture, (his Lockheed lounge chaise just sold for over $2 million). His vehicles, including the minimalist’s bicycle and retro-futuristic automobiles (the concept car, 021C for Ford), and even the interiors of private jets – are all on display for this Transport show.

Some prototypes like his plane designed for space tourism and the mirror-like nickel surfboard seem sourced from 007 Bond fantasies, and promote fetishized school-boy dreams, (like the artist Toland Grinell’s ultra luxe luggage) but Newson has graduated from doll-house versions to playing with the real thing.

Marc Newson, Gagosian Gallery, West 21st Street, Sep 14 – Oct 16, 2010

Rob Pruitt and the Delusional Downtown Divas

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum recently announced with event partner Calvin Klein Collection a new art event premiering in 2009: Rob Pruitt’s The First Annual Art Awards at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Association with White Columns, to be held on Thursday, October 29, 2009.

Artist Rob Pruitt, whose conceptual practice is rooted in a pop sensibility and a playful critique of art world structures, has conceived the event as a performance-based artwork which follows the format of a Hollywood awards ceremony. The Art Awards will be an annual celebration of select individuals, exhibitions, and projects that have made a significant impact on the field of contemporary art during the previous year, specifically, for this year’s ceremony, from January 2008 to June 2009.

According to Mr. Pruitt, “This annual gesture will function as a community-building and philanthropic event for the Guggenheim Museum, White Columns and, in 2009, Studio in a School, while simultaneously mobilizing the wide ranging talents and energies of the international arts community, focusing on our mutual admiration and support for one another’s unique endeavors.” Mr. Pruitt continued, “With one eye on supporting our great institutions, and the other on injecting our community with a renewed sense of energy, spirit, and a dash of showbiz glamour, we are pleased to announce this very unique event.”

Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum, stated, “As the impresario behind the First Annual Art Awards, Rob Pruitt presents a daring new event model injected with the humor that underscores his work. Pruitt’s orchestration of this performative piece—with the rotunda as center stage—is aligned with the Guggenheim’s mission to continue to engage and present contemporary artists.”

“The First Annual Art Awards, held at the Guggenheim Museum, will celebrate today’s most interesting and respected artists, in an entirely innovative way,” said Malcolm Carfrae, EVP Global Communications, Calvin Klein, Inc. “Calvin Klein, Inc. has always been a huge supporter of the arts and we are thrilled to be a part of such a groundbreaking event that celebrates the arts community and gives it the recognition it deserves.”

Pruitt has invited the Delusional Downtown Divas to preside over the event as Masters of Ceremonies, and Glenn O’Brien will step in as the Announcer, or, as Pruitt describes his role, as “the Voice of God.” An additional distinguished list of presenters will participate in distributing the awards, created by Pruitt to resemble a celebratory bucket of champagne that also serves as a fully functional lamp. The presenters will include Cecily Brown, Sofia Coppola, James Franco, Knight Landesman, Nate Lowman, and Mary-Kate Olsen, among others. Original music has been composed by Matthew Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces, who will perform at the event. Christine Muhlke, food editor of the New York Times Magazine, is curating the cuisine for the seated dinner.

Lifetime Achievement Awards, determined by Rob Pruitt along with organizing partners the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and White Columns, will be awarded to Joan Jonas and Kasper König. In addition, a group of more than four hundred art world professionals has been invited to form a Nominating Council that will select four nominees in nine categories that focus primarily on exhibitions and projects that took place over the preceding eighteen months (January 2008 to June 2009), in the United States, as well as one category recognizing an international exhibition. The Rob Pruitt Award is being decided solely by the artist. Of the following list of nominees, a larger group (including the Nominating Council) will establish the eventual winners, who will be announced at the live awards ceremony on October 29. The ten categories—in addition to the Lifetime Achievement Award—and the nominees for each category are:

Artist of the Year
• Louise Bourgeois
• Urs Fischer
• Dan Graham
• Mary Heilmann

Curator of the Year
• Klaus Biesenbach
• Daniel Birnbaum
• Connie Butler
• Massimiliano Gioni

Exhibitions Outside the United States
• Francis Bacon, Tate Britain, London
• Jeff Koons, Versailles, Château de Versailles, France
• Mike Kelley: Educational Complex Onwards: 1995–2008, Wiels Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels
• Wolfgang Tillmans: Lighter, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin

Group Show of the Year, Gallery
• A Twilight Art, Harris Lieberman, New York
• Who’s Afraid of Jasper Johns? Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
• Your Gold Teeth II, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
• ZERO in New York, Sperone Westwater, New York

Group Show of the Year, Museum
• After Nature, New Museum, New York
• The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• The Quick and the Dead, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
• WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York

New Artist of the Year
• Elad Lassry
• Daniel McDonald
• Marlo Pascual
• Ryan Trecartin

The Rob Pruitt Award
• To be announced the evening of October 29, 2009

Solo Show of the Year, Gallery
• Cindy Sherman, Metro Pictures, New York
• Manzoni: A Retrospective, Gagosian Gallery, New York
• Paul Sharits, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
• Picasso: Mosqueteros, Gagosian Gallery, New York

Solo Show of the Year, Museum
• Dan Graham: Beyond, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• Lawrence Weiner: As Far as the Eye Can See, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton, New Museum, New York
• Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Museum of Modern Art, New York

Writer of the Year
• Tim Griffin
• John Kelsey
• Walter Robinson
• Jerry Saltz